laptop help

well, I just bought my laptop like 3 weeks ago...it was running perfect just until this last week...now, all of a sudden the laptop freezes/crashes, doesnt respond to anything, shutsdown and restarts by itself, and when I try to restart it , it wont respond.

The laptop is a Toshiba Tecra 8200 and the specs are

PIII 847Mhz
512mb ram
dvd/cdrw


I have'nt dropped it or anything, I take great care of it, but now I dont know what's going on.

Sometimes the laptop turns on and functions normally, but then after about 10 mins it either freezes or shutsdown...

any ideas on what to do?

 

Does it do this while on AC, battery or both?

 

It does it while its on AC, and I think it will continue to do it even when my AC is off and its running on battery.

 

Can you narrow down when it happens? Always with a certain application running? While doing a certain process?

Have you done a virus/spyware scan?

 

^ It just happens...even If I'm not running no aps, and I leave the laptop idle, it will just freeze, and not respond to anything, even the HDD light goes off.

I think it maybe the hard drive....It also freezes even if I move it...the slighest movement it makes and it freezes.

I tried running a virus test, but it freezes/crashes half way, same thing for a spyware test..

 

Judging on what you're saying, I think it's probably a faulty HD.

 

^thats the conclusion I've come up too also...

I just tried reformatting windows, and it froze again. Whenever it freezes, I noticed the HDD light shuts off...meaning the HD is off and not running.

I'm gonna try to buy another HD and see what happens.

 

Sounds like the best idea, it does sound like a hardware fault to me, also try running memtest, you can find it on the ultimate boot cd.

 

^I cant try the memtest since I fomatted the HD to install a fresh copy of windows...but now I cant finish the setup since it freezes half way.

Also, if the HD was faulty...shouldnt the laptop not even load?

 

**UPDATE**

Well, I got another HDD, and still it doesnt work....the pc still freezes..so it seem the hd is not the problem...

I took out one of the ram sticks to see if it would help but nope..so RAM isnt the problem either...

what can it be?..

now I gotta turn it off/on atleast 10 times before it powers on...then it will work for about 5 mins, then freeze....

 

I'd say the board is the next most likely candidate if you have already done the hard drive and memory.

 

Toshiba's A70 line-up has this very same problem and I have experienced it firsthand. Search their technical bulletins for random freezing, shutdown/lockup and you will see for yourself. It has to to with the speaker grilles being attached directly to the internal circuitry. When the user touches or even gets near the grilles, a static discharge can travel through the grille and disrupt the whole system, leading to seemingly "random" freezing, shutdown/lockup.

I felt like mentioning this problem just because it bears an uncanny resemblance to the flaw in the A70 Satellite line. The solution involves removing the face plate (silver plastic face) and placing an insulating material (ie, strip of plastic) so static discharges cannot travel to the board below. Toshiba did this for me, although you can probably do it yourself and save some trouble. Good luck.

 

^thanks for the suggestion...can you take me through the steps?...if no trouble to you....

I hope this works.

and ZaZ, if this method bc135 has told me doesnt work...then I guess you will be right , it would be the boards fault...

Thanks again for all the help everyone.

 

Here is the link to the technical bulletin; this is were Toshiba posts notices for known flaws in their products.
http://209.167.114.38/support/TechSupport/TSBs/ALL/-TSB001087.htm

And here is a guide to dismantling various Toshiba laptops, including the A70, it may give you a visual for what I described above:
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/

 

^Thanks alot man.

 

Just looked over the websites provided....I couldnt really find much info on how to open up a Tecra 8200....

But, if it was the speakers fault...how come it was working perfectly just 2 weeks ago...

 

The dryer it is, the better for a static discharge - where do you live? Is it winter over there?
My A70 shut-down more in the winter than the summer or spring. Keep in mind that this solution is a long shot as it is restricted to the A70 Satellite model... if its not static, then I suspect that the motherboard is to blame.

How did you get this laptop?
Did the previous owner have the same issue? Did he have it repaired at any time?

PS the irisvista site has instructions for dismantling the 9100, a very similar model to the 8200

 

^thanks for the reply....

I live in canada...just a couple more weeks and were into winter....

I bought the laptop from someone on craiglist...I'm not sure if the previous owner had the same problem...I keep emailing him but he doesnt respond...

 

****BIG UPDATE***

Alrite so here's the thing...I discovered a way to use the laptop without it freezing. If I place the laptop on my palm, and turn it on, it will turn on flawlessly and work.

So I put a pillow on my table and placed the laptop over it, and guess what, it worked. I was able to install Windows on it. I was using it for about 2 hours without a problem.

The middle of the laptop is the part that is suppose to be balanced on my palm or pillow in order for it to work. Bizare, but it works. So I'm happy.

But if I move it from the pillow or even put it on a desk, it wont work...

Oh well, good enough for me, as long as it works.

Once again I thank everyone for there help.

 

That kinda sucks, see if you can get like a whole new lappy. It seems like its pretty old right? Things go wrong when they get older, but still this is kinda dissappointing. Well as long as you are happy with that fix.

 

^I'm trying to save up now to get a new one.

For now its good enough..